Owners of Claridge’s plan to triple the number of hotels as demand for luxury travel continues

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The owner of Claridge Maybourne plans to almost triple the number of hotels in the next decade, expanding to Paris, New York, Miami and Dubai to meet the demands of luxury travellers.

The company, which has six hotels – four in London and one in Beverly Hills and the French Riviera – aims to have 15 to 17 by 2035, according to CEOs Gianluca Muzzi and Marc Socker. Half of this would be the management’s own partnership, rather than under Maybourne’s ownership.

“In the past, (the focus) was around hotels. . . to keep their information, but what we are doing now is to establish and promote the presence of the management company, Maybourne itself,” Muzzi told the Financial Times in an interview. and Emorythe group’s new London hotel.

Maybourne, owned by Qatari royals Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani and Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, will open a hotel and assisted living facilities in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, renovating the former Ministry of Defense. to build. Muzzi said it would be “another iconic hotel, similar to the Connaught and Claridge’s in London”.

It is also planning another UK hotel in a landmark building in Hampshire, while hotels in Dubai and New York will also be built. “We would be, maybe by the end of this decade, maybe 15, 16 or 17.” . . especially in urban areas,” Socker said.

He added that there are also plans to expand into Asia in the future, in places like Singapore and Tokyo.

The expansion of the ownership of some of London’s best-known hotels comes as luxury travel continues to benefit from the post-pandemic crisis.

In London, daily room rates for luxury hotels rose by 42 percent between 2019 and 2023, compared to 27 percent for the market as a whole, according to real estate firm CBRE.

In Paris and Milan, prices have increased by 42 and 60 percent respectively, compared to a growth of 37 percent for all hotels in these cities.

“Given years of success and (that) people are looking for new experiences, we want to create a strong management company and a strong lifestyle brand,” Socker said. “Maybourne used to be (business to business). Now we’re coming out with a consumer brand, and we’re ready to tap into these new businesses.”

Socker said Maybourne would launch a “membership group” next year. This will provide access to other features and parts of its hotels. It will also license its spa and wellness brand for other uses.

Maybourne has been expanding following the outbreak. The Emory, its first hotel in London in 50 years, has added two international locations, Maybourne Beverly Hills and Maybourne Riviera on the Côte d’Azur.

The company, whose Qatari owner lived in a to argue and Irish property developer and former shareholder Paddy McKillen on the value of the business, said to be worth £29.1mn in the year ending December 2023, up 40 per cent year-on-year. Its pre-tax loss was $11.1mn, widening from $6.1mn last year, due to interest from corporate debt. Claridge has posted pre-tax profits of £7.2mn in 2023.